Almost ready for re-launch

Well I'm close to being ready to re-launch the blog. I've updated the "About" and "Gear" pages to reflect the current status on things, as well as I'm still working on some partnerships that will hopefully be confirmed shortly.

Not far off now... Laughing

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Posted on: 6/16/2009 at 11:43 PM
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Pidgeo.com will be returning soon

Not sure if anyone comes here anymore but I will be re-launching the blog soon which will combine my now-hobby of gaming, my new job in Microsoft IT and of course all things technology related to both.

Stay tuned

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Posted by: Pidgeo
Posted on: 5/14/2009 at 3:11 PM
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I wonder if I looked like this

I was doing some YouTube surfing and watched some of the highlights from Australia's last World Cup (Soccer) campaign and I stumbled upon this...

Outstanding. I hope to be doing the same this weekend with the Waratahs, Panthers, Swans and Socceroos.

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Posted by: Pidgeo
Posted on: 5/30/2008 at 12:00 AM
Categories: Football
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Alcohol impaires gaming skill, and other random thoughts

As most long term readers know, GiganticHeadStu and I partake in FIFA 08 challenges and similar to State of Origin, the win-loss and for-and-against are frightfully close after so many games. Well at least they were until last night.

I won the first game 8-3 but much later in the night and MANY drinks later Stu decided to challenge me and my sobriety again. The previous record for a drubbing was Stu 16 Brad 4 but this paled to the

25-5

 

destruction I dished out in the wee hours of the morning. Wayne Rooney had twelve goals on his own! Moral of the story kids is don't drink and competitively game. Thank goodness FIFA is here to tide me over until Euro 2008 starts otherwise I'd be all out of soccer to watch. Anyone see Dean Windass' goal for Hull City to put them in the Premier League for the very first time? A volley of a lifetime.

How is everyone going with GTA IV? A number of people who know their games had a word to me that I absolutely MUST try the multiplayer so I will get to it once I've finished Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance again on the Xbox v1. Speaking of the big black box, I can't believe I called it "old school" the other day... how time flies. Switching between the S Controller and the Xbox 360 Controller really highlights what an exceptional job Microsoft did doing the little things right to make such a superb controller upgrade. For those keeping score I abhor the pathetic and archaic PS controller. SixAxis doesn't not count as a revolution in design. I know people who love the PS controller so its certainly a personal taste for every gamer.

Ninja Gaiden II is not far away and I wonder if my n00bish skills will be sufficient this time around. I am truly a Ninja Dog! It does look sweet though and will be getting a good hack 'n bash 'n slash.

I am turning 28 this coming Sunday and I am wondering what game I should play for some online fun with some Aussies and minimal lag. Suggestions?

The mystery with the "who wants more LAN's" is still unsolved and in the works, so keep those fingers crossed!!

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Posted by: Pidgeo
Posted on: 5/26/2008 at 8:21 PM
Categories: Gaming | Xbox 360 | Xbox Live | Football
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GTA IV - where does it rank?

I have finally finished the main story in GTA IV and in a word it is superb. There is twists and turns throughout and it certainly evokes strong emotions as you play through it. It certainly has one main fact that defines a great game which is the "just one more mission" effect that makes you get to bed at 4am, miss work or assignments and generally pause your life until its complete. Case in point this blog not being updated in a week Laughing

Taking Metacritic.com and GameRankings.com as gospel, GTA IV ranks pretty much as the greatest game ever made. Now don't get me wrong - GTA IV is an utterly amazing game that has redefinied the open world genre that previous iterations of GTA defined, however I don't know if I can call it my best ever game due to one single question.

"Will I play through it again?" The answer is "probably not".

Now that I've finished the main story I really don't have the desire to play it again, and I certainly don't feel the need to go and complete the 20 race missions or the 10 package delivery jobs or whatever other mundane and repetitive side missions there are. I feel the same as I did when I finished BioShock in that I knew that I'd finished an epic single player campaign but in doing so I condemned the game to the trade in pile.

Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to do so with GTA IV as I haven't given the multiplayer a go yet, but I honestly think I'd rather play Call fo Duty 4 online right now. Maybe in a few weeks I'll change my mind about this and all that I have written above but as it stands right now, I've finished the main story of GTA IV - I enjoyed it immensely and it certainly is an all time great but to me, games such as Civ 2 and Rise of Nations rank higher in my view only because they kept me coming back for more.

So my question to you guys if you can get away from GTA for long enough to read my blog is where does it rank right now for you and if you have finished the main story, will you go back and play it again?

 

 

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Posted by: Pidgeo
Posted on: 5/19/2008 at 2:54 PM
Categories: Gaming | Xbox 360 | Xbox Live
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Old dwarven treasures but no Game Boy

I believe that it is an established fact that I am a nerd so it would come as no surprise to any of you that I used to enjoy the hobby of minature wargaming. For those that aren't aware, by Wikipedia definition "miniature wargaming is a recreational hobby where players simulate a battle, which is played out using small figurines to represent the land, sea and/or air units involved. Many miniatures games are played on a floor or tabletop, with terrain represented by miniature scenery (hills, forests, roads, fences, etc.). Movement of the miniatures is regulated using a tape measure. However, like boardgames, miniature games can also be played using gridded terrain (demarcated into squares or hexagons) or even gameboards".
Two of my best mates were state champions at Warhammer 40K, we also enjoyed Necromunda but I personally loved Warhammer Fantasy.. pity I was not close to as good as my two mates.
One classic story was we all came around to Brecon's place as he had a permanent wargame table set up in his basement so we decided that we were going to have a monster weekend battle of the brothers - John as the Dark Angles and Evin as the Ultramarines versus Rowan as the Blood Angles and Brecon as the Space Wolves with my pitfully small Tyranid Horde just creating havok for fun. Wargaming is all about knowing the rules and John and Brecon were both "rules lawyers", arguing every bloody pre-game set up condition there was to argue about, meaning that the game to a full EIGHT HOURS TO SET UP!!! Admittedly it was very amusing to watch. The Dark Angels army of John's had the particular Psycher/Officer who was extremely powerful who was literally half the army for John - each unit/squad costs points for example a character can cost 200 points and the army limit could be 3000 - John's uber-psycher cost half his army points he was that mean. Brecon had a big tank that was able to have one shot pre game (which took 30 minutes to argue about) so Brec, hoping to go against the 1 in 216 chance of killing John's chances from the get go, aimed straight at the key to the Dark Angles army.
It came off - the psycher and John's chances were dead.
Brecon and Rowan laughed in hysterics while I cringed as John was just about ready to explode and sure enough John blew up, kicked the table ruining eight hours of set up, stormed out of the basement, put a hole in the door and went home. Just awesome.
Sorry for that tangent - As nearly everyone has done today, I am visiting my mother for Mother's Day at my parents place in the Blue Mountains and like nearly all parents, they have a treasure trove of mine and my sister's old toys. Since I have been on the old school gaming hunt for the last few years I decided to ask Dad where my old original Game Boy would be to which the reply was "in the shed". Right down the back of my parents yard is the shed where boxes upon boxes of "treasures" are stored. Just to put it in prespective my dad is one of those people who collects cars and trains and leaves them in mint condition and in the original packaging so you can only imagine how much stuff is packed into this relatively mundane garden shed.
I thought I was in luck when I saw in the very first crate my old Game Boy carry case but to my disappointment I only found Mortal Kombat, NBA All Star Challenge, Skate or Die: Bad 'n Rad and TMNT. I did however find piles of my old Lego including the Legoland Set 6990 - The Space Monorail which was if I recall the ultimate Lego box set in 1987...


... Micro Machines, Matchbox cars and some of my old Games Workshop minatures including these two...
A Dwarf Flame Cannon and a Slayer, painted by the Rowan mentioned above who now makes models for the movie industry and I believe is either in or is going to be working for Peter Jackson's Weta Studio. I hope none of you thought I painted them as I paint like a 3 year old!!
Dad is going to have a hunt for the Game Boy next time he gets a chance to spend a day clearing out the shed so once the missing Game Boy is found it will get its own uber-post.
For those who want more LAN's, have your fingers crossed big time for me this week!! Wink

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Posted by: Pidgeo
Posted on: 5/11/2008 at 3:19 PM
Categories: Old School
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From Tangramayne to Liberty City

Where is Tangramayne you ask?

It was the first city that I ever visited in a video game; the starter city to Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight on the Apple IIe. A 22x22 grid of a maze of buildings and passages in 16 colours, it left a lot to the imagination to give it life.

What a long and colourful journey it has been to arrive in Liberty City for the third time. A pure masterpiece of programming and design genius, Liberty City in GTA IV has far surpassed any other world/city/dungeon before it as well as anything in my wildest dreams as a kid playing AD&D Gold Box classics.

After finally getting off the PC to head up to my good mates at GAME Chatswood to get a copy yesterday I have been in awe of what Rockstar have achieved. I'm not going to review GTA IV - I honestly don't see the point as it has been done to death already and a number one ranking at GameRankings.com and Metacritic. All I can recommend is that you all take a moment to appreciate the journey from your very first city you visited in the world of video games to the magnum opus that is Liberty City. I'd love to hear what people's first virtual cities are so leave your comments below.

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Posted by: Pidgeo
Posted on: 5/10/2008 at 2:04 AM
Categories: Gaming | Xbox 360
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It's here but I'm not playing it just yet and more random thoughts

GTA IV is here and most of you who read this blog are most probably enjoying what could be the best rated game in history. I know a lot of mainstream press like to add that its violent and shows drug use blah blah blah (just to be provocative for the sake of it), but it is a great positive to see more than a few liken it to a great gangster/mafia film. From what I have read it surpasses them all... games or movies.

I haven't had the chance to play it yet but I did load up the original GTA from 1997 for the PC just for a quick laugh and you certainly can see the heritage that is prevalent in the later titles. I'm a big sucker for the history of gaming so if you have only played the 3D GTA's from III onwards I implore you to find a copy of the original and give it an hour. It's worth the giggle to experience some gaming history.

GTA IV is a game that is going to take a load of time to get through so I'll be taking my time to play it and enjoy it, just like a good scotch.

Good luck to tranceVib for his wedding on the weekend. I've had the pleasure of meeting his bride a few times and he's done exceptionally well for himself!!  Hope the wedding goes spectacularly well guys. Marriage... <shudder> Tongue out

Speaking of weddings, I'm off to the Gold Coast tomorrow for Stu's buck's weekend which will include the trots, some golf and a few drinks. It should be a great deal of fun... as long as my golf swing is on song! I'd like to get close to my dad at least once in the next few years as beating a 90 year old at golf in a few decades times really isn't a victory to celebrate too much!

I need to play the new Mario Kart. Period.

I find it mildly amusing that the UEFA Champions League final will be contested by two English sides.... in bloody Moscow?!?! I hope for a Man Utd-Liverpool final just due to all the history between the two sides. If only there was a way to move the final to Wembley Stadium.... imagine the atmosphere!

Who wants more LAN's? Vote with your comments below. If a certain opportunity comes off in the next week or so it could be a reality. Everyone have their fingers crossed for me!!

I did load up Galactic Civilizations II the other day and if you like 4X games then you must play this. Deep, challenging and diverse.... pure gaming excellence.

 

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Posted by: Pidgeo
Posted on: 4/30/2008 at 9:00 PM
Categories: Xbox 360 | Games for Windows | Football
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Sydney's wet and I'm SimGolfing with loads of random thoughts

Well as my fellow Sydneysiders can attest to, it has been wet and miserable in the Emerald City for what seems to be an eternity. However we must remember that we were in drought not that long ago and the rain is filling our dams and making Morris Iemma's insistence to spend billions on a desalination plant look pretty foolish in the short term. I do know one little quadruped who is very unhappy about the rain.... little Oscar is furious that his park walks are being curtailed by the downpour!! Although he has a raincoat both his mother and him are big wusses and won't go out there. Aren't you Katie Tongue out

The rain has allowed me to enjoy an old favourite of mine and that is Sid Meier's SimGolf. I have always enjoyed golf games, all the way back to World Class Leader Board on the Apple IIe which I still have. One of my favourite features on WCLB was the ability to "design" your own course by taking holes from the four included courses and plot out a dream course to play. I did always dream of a game where you could actually design every aspect of the course and then play it. SimGolf was that game... however I missed it when it came along in 1996. I certainly did not miss Sid Meier's SimGolf in 2001 as it combined the genius of Sid Meier and Will Wright to create a business/strategy sim based on golf. Pure gaming goodness in my books. As you design and expnad your course, your Sim becomes a better golfer, allowing you to win exhibition games and tournaments which of course bring in the simoleons to expand and upgrade the course... and thus the addictive cycle begins.

The lack of posting here on pidgeo.com has been pretty much due to my re-addiction to Sid Meier's SimGolf. Should I post myself on "The List" again, or should Sid Meier get the blame? At least it fills the six days until the global phenomenon known as GTA IV arrives. For those who own both the PS3 and Xbox 360 I'd be interested to see which console you will be buying it for? Considering this audience is very pro-360 I pretty much know the answer to that, but I do wonder how the general gaming populace will be investing their cash. If Call of Duty 4 is any guide it's the 360 by a wiiiiiiiiide margin!! How long will it take to complete the main story I wonder but I certainly plan on finding out in good time.

Do we have any Star Trek fans out there? Oh lord I hope no-one of the fairer sex who is single is reading this post hehe. The reason I ask is that my introduction to Star Trek was Enterprise, a show that seemed to garner its fair share of criticism from Trekkies. I personally really enjoyed 97 of the 98 episodes (let us never speak of the finale again) so I wonder if Voyager, DS9, TNG and TOS are so much better? Maybe if I don't want to stay single I shouldn't bother finding out hehe.

When will Zune come to Australia I wonder? Just wondering out loud as I enjoy using mine as my bedroom entertainment device. Minds out of the gutter people!! Great screen, good software and it's not a boring old iPod. I do like the Creative Zen Vision W but I'm too cheap and too used to free stuff to pay for one!!

Anzac Day = Australia's greatest public holiday. I still want to attend a dawn service at Splendour Rock, the war memorial for bushwalkers about 25kms south of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains wilderness. I have been there a number of times in my hiking days (long ago!) and it is one of the most amazing places on the planet, and a fitting tribute to the fallen. I will get there one day... maybe I should aim for 2009?

Blake Lively is the most beautiful woman on television even though a) she has a bloke's name and b) Gossip Girl is a horrendous TV show! I dare you to try and watch an episode!

I wanted to give a shout out to a fellow (and MUCH more successful) blogger Samantha Brett who has a blog on SMH.com.au which is all about sex and relationships. Now I don't want to get all sensitive and such but I will say that such blogs are wonderfully informative and let's be honest... we males can use every bit of intelligence on the fairer sex as we can get!! Evil she-devils Tongue out Sam (who is utterly stunning btw) was nice enough to reply to my e-mail of praise for her excellent and award winning blog so I thought it only right do my tiny little bit to advertise hers. I somehow don't think the majority of her audience will have an interest in my nerdy ramblings hahaha.

Family Guy = awesome. A mate of mine who now works at the Microsoft Mothership once said that Family Guy was better than The Simpsons. MightyOat and I bagged him out but he may of had a point after all. So Nic - I apologise for the bagging from four years ago as you may have been right.

Where does Call of Duty 4 rank all time for online and LAN shooters? I am crap at it but I can watch Stu play it for hours... bet that stops after the wedding mate hehehe.

I caught up with tranceVib today for the first time in over a week as he is chaotically getting things organised for the upcoming wedding to his wonderful fiance. As usual we solved all the gaming world's problems, laughed at the rumour that MGS4 will be 576p (HAHAHA if it's true) and discussed plenty of crazy ideas that may come to light if a few things go well next week for me. Seriously if Project "Train Tourney" comes off it would be beyond awesome for those who got to the finals. I'll leave it at that.

Six more sleeps to GTA IV!! 

 

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Posted by: Pidgeo
Posted on: 4/23/2008 at 4:22 PM
Categories: Gaming | Xbox 360 | Games for Windows | Old School
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The winners

We'll start with the winners and it was a tough choice because each of the lists were of the highest quality, but there has to be three winners so here they are.

  • DarkArmada for his exceptional list that I have wasted eons of time on
  • Mojo XP for not only admitting he owned a N-Gage, but he bought 10 GAMES FOR IT!!!
  • Barnzey for his irreverent humour
Well done guys!! You have all won redeemable codes for N+, Rez HD and Poker Smash which I will send you via e-mail. I encourage that if you already own any of these that you share with someone who has entered this comp Smile

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Posted by: Pidgeo
Posted on: 4/18/2008 at 7:40 PM
Categories: Gaming | Xbox 360 | Competitions | Xbox Live
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